The Gay International and its activities are largely responsible for the intensity of this repressive campaign.

(On May 11, 2001, Egyptian police officers boarded a Nile River cruise known as the Queen Boat, a floating disco for gay men. Fifty-two men were arrested, and many of them later claimed to have been tortured and sexually humiliated in prison. Most of the men were eventually acquitted, but 23 received convictions for either the "habitual debauchery," "contempt for religion" or both.)